Crown of a Thorn King

Seventeen years following the ravages of a war that created three bitter generations, a fragile peace dithers at the brink. Like a woven cloth, a web of alliances, treaties, and secrets uphold the delicate balance between two great powers: The ancient empire of the Elemeri, whose outstretched arms guard jealously the coastline of the known world. And the Holy See, an amalgamation of squabbling fiefdoms, duchies and papal lands in whose chaotic existence answers to no one ruler, save a single uncaring god. In such a world Lindel, the son of heroes, has been made a captain of the Palatine Guards. What appears a most envious post at first is a death trap for those caught unprepared, and he knows this best. For to be a guardian to the children of ancient kings is to walk a delicate tightrope. Together with a band of misfits and raw recruits, he must navigate the uneasy and shifting alliances between senators, generals, and less savoury characters. If not for the fragile peace, the life work of his father, then for his self-preservation, he must seek to preserve a status quo that he does not trust. For in the Empire, pieces of parchment and handshakes are all that stands between peace, and total war. Like cloth, such things are delicate. They can be cut and broken. Forever.